Packing/Staging in DC

>> Monday, April 30, 2007

It feels like it took forever to get our house emptied and to get our stuff packed but it finally happened and we're in DC without forgetting too many important things.

We spent a while getting all of our stuff together and packed up. Here's what all of Holly's stuff looked like:

And all of that became this:
My junk looked like this:
We left Springfield at 7:30 this morning and made it to DC in two pieces. So far staging has been really great--everyone in our group is nice and normal all of things that one would hope. The Nicaraguan ambassador to the US came to answer a few questions and he was really awesome and informative. We actually leave for Managua on Wednesday morning, and we hope we'll have another good update then.

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Welcome!

>> Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Hi!

Up to this point, PeasCorps (named for the "Visualize Whirled Peas" bumper sticker, not because we don't know how to spell) has been mostly for us to remember our application struggles and share our experiences with other Peace Corps applicants. Now that we're about to leave in just 5 days, the blog should become mildly interesting and will be the best way for us to keep in touch with all our family and friends, share lots of pictures, and let you all know that we're still alive and having a great time.

We'll spend 3 days in Washington, D.C. getting the very basic rules and and getting to know the other 33 people going to Nicaragua with us. We then fly to Nicaragua, spend a few days doing our language evaluations and things like that, then we'll move in with our training host families. Training is near Masaya, Nicaragua and we'll have language training (Spanish) and job training for 3 months. We have to live with separate host families; that will be tough, but it will force us to use Spanish with our host families, and we'll still get to see each other for teacher training and will probably get to spend weekends together. For the first three months of training, our mailing address is as follows:

Paul/Holly Ragan, PCT
Voluntario del Cuerpo de Paz
Apartado Postal 3256
Managua, Nicaragua
Central America
Mail tips that we received from the Peace Corps include that it's best if packages don't exceed 2 pounds and that padded envelopes are better than boxes. Large boxes and items aren't as practical because we may have to pay customs fees on them. Mail is relatively reliable (albeit sometimes slow), but it's better not to send valuable (monetarily or sentimentally) items just in case.

Really, though, we'd just love to receive comments here on the blog or e-mails from all of you (holly.ragan [at] gmail.com and paul.ragan [at] gmail.com), even if just to say hello and let us know that you're still reading! We've heard that Internet cafes are prevalent and so that should be the best way to stay in touch.

We're really excited to be leaving for this great adventure, and we're also eager to share it with all of you!

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Beginning of the End

>> Monday, April 23, 2007

So in 7 days we will be in D.C. for staging. We're both done with our jobs and had our huge garage sale this weekend. The garage sale was more work than we bargained for, but now I'm very glad that we went through everything in the house and decided whether we would take it with us, store it, or get rid of it--the vast majority of things fell into the last category. I thought I'd get sentimental about getting rid of nearly everything I own, but it was much easier than I thought. I was just shocked how much I had accumulated and how easy it is for momentum to take junk from place to place without thinking about if I really need or even want it. It was scary to see it all lined out on the driveway for people to rifle through, but it was a nice bonus to get a little extra cash to stick in savings.

We held on to a few dishes and microwave and things like that that we'll need for this last week. Family members are taking some of our furniture so we still have a couch and table. We're sleeping on a borrowed air mattress (our bed sold) and the person who bought our TV is waiting until Saturday to pick it up. Paul still needs to sell his MacBook but is in the process of doing that, and we just need to box up everything that we're going to store.

The fact that the house is nearly bare and other random, silly things are slowly making me realize that we're leaving really soon--like realizing that I won't get to watch "Heroes" next week or taking a trip to the grocery store: we're entirely free to ignore expiration dates on food, we're trying to find recipes that will wipe out our pantry, and we know better than to even look at green bananas.

On a related note, if anyone has a recipe that includes coconut milk, a bag of ice, half a tube of Saltine crackers, and veggie corn dogs, please let us know.

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Holly's Packing List

This isn't an entirely exhaustive list and some of the things Paul listed too (like the iBook), but some of the items I plan to bring include:

Clothing

  • Jeans
  • Khakis - capris and pants
  • Skirts - Macabi, long khaki, short khaki, skorts
  • Belt
  • T-shirts
  • 2 long sleeve shirts
  • 2 (?) skirt outfits/dresses
  • socks/bras/underwear
  • 1 pair pajama pants
  • Swimsuit
  • Smartwool socks
  • Fleece Jacket
  • Rain Shell
  • Rain hat
  • Chacos/flip flops/hiking boots/Sketchers slip-ons
  • Sunglasses
Toiletries
  • Shampoo/Conditioner for training
  • Diva Cup
  • Toothpaste/brush and floss
  • Brush/comb
  • Pony tail holders
  • Bobby pins
  • Razors/"Shave the Day" shaving cream
  • Nail Clippers
  • Pack towel (small/large)
  • Supply of prescriptions
  • Small bottle of bath oil
  • Deodorant
  • Ear plugs
Gear
  • Timex watch
  • Battery powered alarm clock
  • Headlamp
  • Digital Camera - Sony DSC-H1
  • AA/AAA batteries
  • Blank CDRs (?)
  • USB flash drive - 4 GB
  • Lots of Ziplock bags
  • Nalgenes (1 small, 1 large--filled with stuff for travel)
  • Sharpies
  • 2 full size flat sheets
  • Index cards
  • Duct tape
  • Combination lock
Fun
  • iBook/charger
  • 30 GB iPod/earbuds/cable
  • Poster-sized world map
  • Books - Cryptoquip book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Stumbling on Happiness, maybe 1 or 2 others
  • Calendar
Transport
  • REI Venus backpack
  • Streetwalker bag
  • Duffle bag
  • Vacuum bags
  • Stuff Sacks
  • Small school-sized backpack (?) - probably folded in my REI backpack
Any suggestions are entirely welcome. :)

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Packing list

>> Friday, April 13, 2007

I think we're trying to decide what to take and here's my list so far:

Clothes:

- T-shirts - 2-3 white undershirts and 2-3 regular t-shirts (hippo, wicked, ?)
- 2 button-up short sleeve shirts
- 1 button-up long sleeve shirt
- tie (?)
- Prana long-sleeve shirt (?)
- 2 pair fast-dry boxers and probably 2-3 others (enough?)
- 2 pairs fast-dry khaki pants (one pair that zips off and can double as swimsuit)
- REI fast-dry shorts (necessary?)
- 1 pair exercise shorts
- 1-2 pairs khakis
- 1 pair jeans
- cloth belt
- 1 pair smart wool socks (can wear as dress socks, too)
- 1 pair actual dress socks
- 3 pair athletic socks
- bandanas
- rain hat
- rain jacket
- Cardinals hat (?)
- Chacos, dressy/casual shoes, and running shoes (?)



Toiletries:
- 2 toothbrushes/2 toothpastes (one for each of us during training)
- 2 pair glasses (one on my face)
- 1 pair rx sunglasses
- 2 deodorant
- razor and probably 8 replacement blades
- bottle of Dr. Bronner's
- Hand sanitizer
- small bottle of anti-bacterial soap
- chewable pepto
- Excederin
- Benedryl cream stuff for bug bites
- Zum Rub (?)
- A month or two of multi-vitamins
- One large pack towel
- Kleenex

Stuff:

- Watch
- Digital camera (Canon a600)
- USB flash drive for backing up pictures
- A few blank CD-r (?)
- battery-powered alarm clock
- Batteries (probably 16 AA lithium batteries for the camera and 16 or so AAA batteries)
- Headlamp
- Multi-tool
- ziplock bags
- 2 Nalgenes
- Sharpies (?)
- Pens/pencils
- combination lock (?)
- sleeping pad (?)
- pillow
- 12" iBook
- Carabiner clip for shoes

Entertainment:
- 2 Haruki Murakami books, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Catch-22
- Living abroad in Nicaragua
- Games: Uno, Skip Bo, and a deck of cards
- Nintendo DS, a few games, and the charger
- Pictures to hang, photo book to share
- iPod & Music DVDs

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Countdown

>> Wednesday, April 11, 2007

We will be getting on the plane to go to Washington, D.C. and then Nicaragua in just 19 days--! Paul's done with work Friday, I'm done with work Tuesday, and then we have to squeeze in our yard sale, packing, tying up loose ends (power of attorney, etc.) all those things we want to do "one last time": one last Cardinals game, camping trip, sushi dinner, visit with friends.

Two days after I last posted, we received a letter from the Central America desk reminding us to do all the things we've already done (read the Welcome Book and Volunteer Assignment Description, send passport applications, send resumes and aspiration statements) and then we got the staging packet two days after that. It included our instructions for setting up travel arrangements to get to D.C., our itinerary for staging (we check out of the hotel at 3:30 am the day we leave for Nicaragua!), and lots of other forms to read and fill out before then.

We're really fortunate because the Peace Corps sent an e-mail to all 35 people in our training group because they left some forms out of our invitation packets; one person started a group e-mail so we could all get to know each other a little bit. It's comforting to know that almost everyone is worried about what to pack and not everyone is fluent in Spanish (though several are).

Even though I know we leave in 19 days, it hasn't really sunken in yet. I think after we are done with work, start selling all our stuff, and have to say more goodbyes, it will really feel like it will be time to leave--but by that time, it really will!

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